


think of what you're saying before you speak

by akanesgf



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon Compliant, Coming Out, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, One-Sided Attraction, Slow Burn, basically what happened while naruto and sasuke were gone from ino's perspective
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-06 13:00:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12818058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akanesgf/pseuds/akanesgf
Summary: (for the prompt: what you said with too many miles between us)---alternative title if i didn't name things from song lyrics: Ino and the Adventures of Useless Lesbianism





	think of what you're saying before you speak

Punch, kick, dodge, feint, punch, dodge, kick, repeat. Or no, don’t repeat, that’s a pattern. According to Shikamaru patterns are bad. Ino had never believed him before these matches. After all, what does he know? Chouji was the taijutsu expert, not him.  
  
Turns out, Shikamaru knows a lot. Ino should really start hanging out with her teammates more. When she’s not in the middle of sparring with Tenten of course.   
  
Tenten feints a punch and instead aims a kick at Ino’s ankles. Ino, who’s done the bare minimum of taijutsu training throughout the years, goes down immediately. The fall knocks the wind out of her lungs and she makes a pathetic wheezing noise. Ino really doesn’t know how she survived so long in the Chuunin exams.   
  
Tenten sits down next to her and pulls a water bottle out of her side pouch. Must be a bonus to be able to conjure weapons from scrolls; extra bag room. By the time Ino has caught her breath she’s tacky with sweat and the sun is considerably lower than it was earlier. Tenten offers her the water bottle. Ino sits up to take it. Their first time doing this she’d been too tired to sit up and had tried to drink while lying down. It’s not an experience she’d like to repeat.   
  
“You’re improving,” Tenten remarks while Ino chugs the water down. Ino’s mother would be disgraced if she saw her like this.   
  
The bottle makes a ‘pop’ when it leaves Ino’s lips and she snorts. “Hardly. But hey, you’re a pretty good liar, maybe you should be a genin team leader.”   
  
Tenten just rolls her eyes and snatches the bottle back. She shoves it back into the bag and stands up to stretch. “Nah. I only give lessons to pretty girls,” Tenten winks. Ino pushes herself off the ground with a groan. She’ll feel this for a good week or two. “Especially pretty girls who ask so desperately.” Tenten continues. Ino sticks her tongue out at her.   
  
“I just… had a very harsh reminder of how much I slacked back in the academy. I’m trying to take responsibility for my future career. “ Dignity be damned, she didn’t say.   
  
“Oh, of course,” Tenten starts with a smirk, “totally. This has nothing to do with Sakura studying under Tsunade at all.”   
  
Ino growls and pulls her hair out of what used to be a ponytail. She needs to find better hair ties and fast if she’s going to keep doing this. “Will you shut up if I kiss you?” Tenten just stares at her for a second, caught off guard. They stand there for a second both flushed and embarrassed.   
  
“Uh,” Tenten’s voice cracks, “yeah. Definitely.” Ino nods slowly like an idiot before she catches herself. She steps in closer and pulls Tenten in. They’re half an inch apart when Tenten’s breath catches and Ino feels her confidence return in full force. There’s no better boost than someone being more nervous than you.   
  
She closes the gap quickly. It’s not their first time kissing, but god is it still just as nice. Being fifteen and inexperienced is helping a lot of course, but Tenten is a good kisser.   
  
Ino pulls away after about three minutes and Tenten is still just sort of staring at her, starstruck. She winks and pulls her hair back up. This time with all of her hair actually in the ponytail. “See you tomorrow?”   
  
Tenten nods, coming back to herself. “Yeah. Around three?” Ino hums her agreement.   
  
She walks home with an extra bounce in her step despite the countless bruises and aches. Whatever sense of superiority Tenten gets from watching her trip over herself during practice, Ino gets at the end. Something about a hot girl staring at you dumbfounded is just so empowering.   


* * *

  
Ino gets up early the next morning.   
  
They have some mandatory meeting with the Hokage in about an hour and a half. Asuma had told them at the beginning of practice the other day. Ino is ready to bet all of her savings it’s about either Naruto or Sasuke. The whole village seems to be buzzing with news about the two of them these days. Which speaks volumes about the amount of gossips in Konoha, considering there is no news.   
  
Sometimes Ino finds herself thinking about the two of them, and really all of them, back in their academy days. Sasuke was some aloof clan kid who was a convenient target for a crush. It’s still all so jumbled up and complicated but Ino is pretty sure that’s all their connection boiled down to in the end; convenience.   
  
Naruto on the other hand, was some scrawny brat who no one gave a second thought to except for ‘annoying’. The more she thinks back on it all though, there’s something weird about how the adults all treated him. Ino will probably never admit it, but she feels a little guilty for blindly adopting their hatred.   
  
Ino blames all of this thinking on Sakura and Shikamaru. Every other time she sees them it’s Naruto this, Sasuke that. If Ino didn’t know any better she’d say they’re both infatuated. The truth is, Sakura is bordering on obsession, and Shikamaru is a mix of both. Well, he likes Naruto at least, Ino has no clue how he feels about Sasuke.   
  
Ino has to shake herself out of her thoughts once again.   
  
None of this matters right now. She'll go to the meeting and probably be bored out of her mind and that'll be the end of it. Right now, she needs to focus on a cute outfit for BBQ with Tenten. 

* * *

  
Ino eventually decides on some shorts and a green crop-top she doesn't wear as often. She waves her parents goodbye and cuts her dad's voice off with the door. She heads down the path to Shikamaru's house. Team 10 had decided to walk to the Hokage's office together.   
  
"Nice outfit," Shikamaru remarks when he opens the door. Ino frowns and opens her mouth to reply when she's cut off.   
  
"Shikamaru! Is that Ino? Stop being a brat and let her in," his mother's voice calls from inside the house. Shikamaru rolls his eyes and Ino smirks at him, shoving him a little as she steps inside. Shikamaru pulls ahead of her anyways and steers her towards his room, avoiding the kitchen. Ino wrinkles her nose as she steps inside. Smart maybe, but he's definitely still a boy.   
  
"When is Chouji coming?" she asks, kicking aside an old shirt so she can sit down. Shikamaru just flops himself on the floor and pulls a comic out of god knows where.   
  
"Dunno." he mumbles as he flips through it. Ino sighs. She'd thought he'd looked pretty cool at the Chunin Exams but now that there's a lull in action it seems he's back to normal. Or at least, his normal.   
  
"You guys should start training with me outside of Asuma's lessons, I'm going to pull ahead." Ino says after a few minutes of silence.   
  
"Didn't know making out with girls was such a power up," He replies, not missing a beat. Ino's ears go hot.   
  
"Oh shut up! And anyway, if being gay really made you stronger you could go hand to hand with the Hokage." It's a rushed insult, never her best work, and her voice catches on the word 'gay' cause shit. Shit, shit, shit, they'd never talked about this.   
  
Shikamaru actually sits up and puts the comic down. His eyes are wide in shock and he looks like he's on the verge of responding when there's a knock on the front door. Chouji to the rescue it seems. They're both about to get up when they hear Mrs. Nara answering the door. Ino feels like slapping herself. She'd forgotten his mom was in the house with them.   
  
Shikamaru heaves a sigh and pulls himself up for real this time. "C'mon, we'll be late at this point." Ino nods and even takes the hand he offers her.   
  
When they get to the front door Chouji is standing there but Mrs. Nara is nowhere to be found. Ino walks out first and Shikamaru softly closes the door behind them. Ino’s eyes flick towards Shikamaru only to jump away when their eyes meet. It’s only when Chouji clears his throat and quietly asks if they’re going now does Ino realize they’d been standing in front of Shikamaru’s house in silence.

Ino stews in her thoughts the whole walk to the Hokage’s office. Whatever happened with Shikamaru… she doesn’t know how to talk to him about it. And she thinks they need to. Like, really need to.

**Author's Note:**

> ahahaha im excited for this story!!! i love ino and her relationship with sakura as a rival and 'friend'. also i'll be attempting to fill in kishi's plot gaps, just for fun. it's tagged slow burn for a reason so uh, buckle up. 
> 
> (my naruto blog is sakurafightmeharuno and my main is elflesbians!)


End file.
